Mobo shorting caused damage to system?

I wanted to ask if system short circuiting can cause any internal damage to parts or the whole mobo or any other components?

My motherboard was shorting and my system wouldn't turn on and all I could hear the first time I pressed the power button was a little spring type noise ( but only the first time of every time the psu was restarted).
After I realised that I wasn't using the motherboard spacers, a very novice and careless error.
Eventually when I did get the system going it gave me some errors on the boot screen:
"CMOS Checksum Error"
"Bad Keyboard/Interface error"
"No Keyboard Detected!"

And surprisingly enough my keyboard wasn't working. I have already looked in to why the checksum error could be present (due to reinstalling the battery in order to clear the cmos).
However I am puzzled by the keyboard error. Do you think that if a system is shorting and hence failing to start completely, can cause the ps/2 ports to fry or any other components? Do any of you guys know of this being the case?

Shorting can cause any and all components to possibly fail. Are you using a mouse on the other port? If indeed your ps/2 ports are blown, then you will probably need to go with a USB keyboard. Consider yourself lucky it was only those and not more.

If you didn't mount the mobo with the spacers (screwed in between the motherboard and the case), the motherboard is making contact with the metal face of the case. This can cause the mobo to short out. It can do irrepairable damage to the motherboard and/or other hardware components. As for the keyboard issue, try connecting it to another computer. If it is recognized by another computer, there could be two issues. One could be that the PS/2 port did short. Another could be that the short messed Windows up. Try clearing the CMOS settings, restart and go into the bios. Ensure that all settings are as they should be. You could also try to reinstall Windows in case any files became corrupt when the short occurred. If this doesn't fix the problem, I'm afraid you cooked the board.

I cannot use a ps/2 keyboard or mouse, and right now I do not have a usb keyboard/mouse (since I have never needed one).

When I tried to install windows on the system, everything worked and the cd booted up just fine but the problem was I could navigate through as my keyboard wasn't being detected. So I installed windows on the PCs HD using another system,

it booted up fine but I could use the mouse/KB to get past the welcome screen. The next time I booted it up it gave me some sort of missing/ corrupt file error from windows.

Do you think I can get away with using a usb keyboard + mouse.
Also, is it safe to confirm that the ps/2 ports malfunction?

It's highly unlikely you will have a stable system from loading the OS on another computer unless it is exactly the same as the shorted out one. The OS install determines the configuration of the system and installs appropriate drivers for that motherboard and with a few exceptions I've heard switching the drive back to the old system now with the wrong drivers on the OS, it won't work/work properly.

It's highly unlikely you will have a stable system from loading the OS on another computer unless it is exactly the same as the shorted out one. The OS install determines the configuration of the system and installs appropriate drivers for that motherboard and with a few exceptions I've heard switching the drive back to the old system now with the wrong drivers on the OS, it won't work/work properly.

Click to expand...

Where system A is the shorted and B is a fully functional one, what I want to do is use As HDD, format it and install a clean Xp using the bootable cd on System B.
I am not able to access the Boot of System A because my PS/2 ports appear not to work.
Instead of throwing away the board, do you think I can salvage it using a usb keyboard and mouse?
If there is anything else you need to add please do so, as it will help me expand my knowledge of this field.

You won't know if your USB will work till you try. I go through keyboards like crazy so I always buy cheap junk as the good ones always only last 6 months or so. I don't know where you live but if you live in the US go to Big Lots. I got this keyboard there for $5. Or buy from a retailer that has a return policy you can take advantage of. If you want to try the load the OS on B then switch the drive to A, try this. When the operating system is installed and it reboots for the last time, don't let it boot to the final window. Take your drive and put it in your A system and the CD into the A systems ROM then boot it up. That might work, but only if the chipset in both mobos are from the same company i.e. Intel or Via etc. I'm still thinking that you probably fried a controller or something similar. If there are black marks on the bottom where it shorted then it's probably fried.